


Flight of the Bumblebee

by Calchexxis



Category: RWBY
Genre: Drabble, F/F, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-19 07:00:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17596634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calchexxis/pseuds/Calchexxis
Summary: Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna have a rocky road to walk, but they'll walk it hand-in-hand, no matter the cost.





	1. Who Shot The Arrow

Yang sighed as she dropped down onto the bench beside Blake, stretching her arms high as she hummed appreciatively at the cool Autumn air; a delightful change from the warm and humid air of the ballroom. No matter how classy the shindig or how big the venue if you cram a hundred teenagers into a room it gets ripe relatively quickly.

“Okay, you were right,” Blake said in a playfully grumpy tone, “tonight was… fun.”

Yang grinned widely. “See? I told you! Blowing off steam is at least as important as anything else for huntresses, even ones in training.”

“I… I know,” Blake sighed. “I’m just not someone who… I can’t just…”

“No, I get it,” Yang chirped, waving a hand dismissively. “You’ve got your guard up all the time, I know. Trust me, I get that.”

“How could you?” Blake whispered softly.

Not softly enough, though. Just because she wasn’t a faunus didn’t mean Yang’s hearing wasn’t sharpened by years of keeping tabs on her hyperactive and impulsive younger sister, but rather than take offense, Yang just smiled.

“I practically raised Ruby after mom died,” Yang said in such a nonchalant manner that Blakes hackles went up. “Dad was a mess, he basically just checked out. So I had to grow up fast… too fast. Uncle Qrow helped out where he could but he had his own life, his own job as a Hunter, y'know?”

“I guess I never thought about it,” Blake said uneasily.

Yang shrugged. “It’s okay, it was good y’know? Seeing you loosen up like that? Sun looks like a riot.”

Blake felt a smile tug at the edges of her mouth. Sun _was_ a lot of fun, it was his personality, he was open and infectiously good-natured.

“Yeah, cra~zy dancer, though,” Blake said with a small laugh.

“Mmyup, saw that too,” Yang said, chuckling. “Gotta admire his confidence, though, right?”

“He’s still got nothing on Jaune,” Blake said, unable to keep her smile from widening at the memory.

“Oof, no argument there,” Yang shook her head and leaned forward, bracing her elbows on her knees. “I’m surprised he can walk straight with the big brass balls it takes to walk into the _Vytal Festival_ _Ball_ in nothing but a backless knee-high party dress and high tops!”

“From the looks Pyrrha was giving him on the dance floor he might be walking funny for a different reason tomorrow,” Blake said with a sly smile.

Yang let out a choking snort of laughter that erupted into full-on giggles as she stared at Blake who felt her cheeks beginning to color.

“W-what?” Blake asked nervously.

“That!” Yang said through her laughter. “That comment! You’ve never said _anything_ like that before.”

“Well, I mean… I’m not wrong…” Blake grumbled as she tucked her knees up and curled in on herself.

Yang laughed softly as scooted closer and slung an arm over Blake. “Hey, c’mon, I didn’t mean to make fun of you, you just caught me off guard… and I’m glad!”

“Why?” Blake looked over at Yang with a raised eyebrow and most of her face hidden by her dress and leggings.

“Because you’re opening up,” Yang grinned as she pulled Blake closer and gently poked one of her soft, black ears. “A month ago you wouldn’t even have been here! Much less cracked a joke like _that_!”

Blake relaxed a little, smiling as she glanced over her shoulder back at the slowly thinning crowds of the ball. Students and faculty alike were filtering out in twos and fours, chatting animatedly as they made their way back to the dorms, and for the first time in a long time, Blake didn’t feel the need to disappear.

Or at the very least, the urge was much smaller than usual.

“I had fun,” Blake said after a moment, turning back to Yang. “I’m glad you convinced me to go.”

“Hey, what’re partners for?” Yang crowed, patting Blake’s head. “Seemed like you and Sun had a blast, too… gonna keep chasin’ that monkey tail?”

Yang expected Blake to blush or stammer, or something, but certainly not laugh and shake her head.

“No, you’re right, Sun’s a lot of fun,” Blake said with a grin. “He’s earnest and open, and has no expectations… and I… I think we’ll be friends… good friends even.”

“Why not more?” Yang asked, her smile taming itself a little as she leaned back. “I mean, I get it if you aren’t interested, fair enough, right? But he seems like a nice guy.”

“Mhm,” Blake agreed, tapping her fingers nervously on the arm of the bench as she put a little space between her and Yang, drawing a concerned look from the blonde. “You’re not wrong, he definitely _is_ that.”

“Blake? Did… did I say something wrong?” Yang asked, her brow furrowing as she turned to face the dark-haired faunus. “C’mon, what’s up?”

Blake let out a deep breath and she could feel the wood of the bench biting into her hand as she tightened her grip on it.

“Yang… can I tell you a secret?” Blake asked in a small voice. “If you promise you won’t… look at me differently if I do?”

Yang smiled, reaching out to lay her hand over Blake’s.

“We’re partners, Bee,” Yang said softly. “You can tell me anything.”

Taking a deep breath, Blake glanced down at her hand and marveled at how small it looked, covered by her partners. Once upon a time, feeling small would have been the trigger for her to run. To make some distance, physically and emotionally, but… Yang had put herself out there for Blake so often that she just couldn’t bring herself to do that to her partner.

Yang deserved better than that.

Maybe that meant Yang _also_ deserved a better partner but… Blake sighed again; that wasn’t up to her, Headmaster Ozpin had been very clear that barring extraordinary circumstances, you were stuck with your partner for the whole of your four years at Beacon. That meant that Blake had a responsibility to make life at Beacon easier for her partner. Blake had to be better… no, she had to be the best she could be because…

Because Yang deserved it.

“I… probably would have preferred to just keep dancing with you,” Blake said finally. “Sun’s a nice guy but, uhm… guys aren’t really my _thing_.”

‘ _Not anymore, anyway… if they ever really were,_ ’ Blake thought a little bitterly.

“Oh!” Yang started in surprise, and Blake instantly curled up against herself, her ears flattening against her skull. “Woah, woah, I didn’t mean like, a bad ‘oh’ I was just surprised! That’s totally fine!”

“You’re… not uncomfortable with it?” Blake asked, not sure if Yang was just humoring her. “I won’t try anything, I promise, I just… don’t want to lie to you, either, not after everything you’ve tried to do for me.”

Yang laughed quietly, shaking her head as tightened her grip Blake’s hand a little, giving it a strong squeeze. This time it was Blake’s turn to start in surprise, she had forgotten they were still holding hands.

It had just felt… natural.

“Mind if I tell _you_ a secret?” Yang asked with a small grin.

Blake’s ears perked up as she met Yang’s lilac gaze and, after a moment, nodded.

Yang chuckled a little as she edged closer to Blake until they were right next to one another, then leaned over until her lips were right by Blake’s human ear, and Blake could barely suppress a small shiver as she Yang spoke, her warm breath tickling the sensitive skin.

“Back at Signal guys and gals had separate showers, but the showers weren’t stalls, see? They were just big open tiled rooms with water spouts,” Yang explained. “So you pretty much had it all hangin’ out… but y’know, just us girls, so no big deal, right?”

“R-right?” Blake would have been mortified at that situation but Yang wasn’t her.

“Right,” Yang agreed. “Well, let me put it this way: that setup meant I took a _lot_ of cold showers during my first couple of years at Signal.”

Blake blinked owlishly as her brain put the pieces together of what Yang was saying and after a moment she felt color stain her cheeks.

“S-so you… I mean you’re…” Blake worked her jaw trying to find the words, but Yang beat her to it.

“A big ol’ queer?” Yang asked with a wide, toothy grin, slapping a hand over Blake’s back as she laughed. “You betcha! I like me some pretty ladies!”

Blake just gaped at the bald-faced admission, but Yang clearly wasn’t finished.

“Don’t sweat it too much, Bee,” Yang said with a cocky grin. “We’ll get you set up, I’ll talk to the Sapphic Council and get you your registration card.”

“Huh?”

“You’ll have to start on the lowest rung: Useless Lesbian,” Yang continued, undeterred by Blakes confusion, “but I’d give it six months before you can bump up to my rank, probably less if you talk to Coco, she’s the local High Femme of the Beacon Chapter.”

“W-what?!”

“Yeah,” Yang nodded with a serious expression on her face. “I had some trouble getting through my trials, I flubbed my first run and had to wait a year, but I nailed it right before I came to Beacon… but you’re older than I was when I tried it the first time so I’m sure you’ll ace it, plus it’s not as harsh as it used to be, they only had two fatalities this year!”

“I… w-what…” Blake’s mouth hung open for a moment before she found her words again. “Are… are you serious?”

Yang met Blake’s gaze with the full weight of her lilac eyes and the stare down continued for several minutes, enough time for Blake to start seriously considering what she was stepping into before…

“Nope, I’m completely messing with you,” Yang said evenly.

Her straight face lasted all of a half-second after that before Yang’s expression split into raucous laughter.

“Grimms’ _teeth_ you should have seen the look on your _face_!” Yang howled, slapping her knee and kicking wildly as she cackled.

Blake felt a weird chill of relief flood through her as she realised that there was, in fact, no strange shadow government directing ladies that batted for their own team which had almost started sounding plausible by the end of Yang’s joke.

A second later, however, a deep, angry burn fill Blake’s chest as she scowled at Yang.

“I didn’t tell you that for you make fun of me!” Blake snapped, her ears flattening furiously against her skull as she stood up, yanked her hand back, and began walking away. “I… I didn’t… I…”

Yang stammered wordlessly as Blake stomped away, but she felt ice sluice down her spine as she saw the beginnings of tears in Blake’s golden, feline eyes before she had her back to Yang. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go, she was supposed to _laugh_.

“W-wait! Bee, c’mon wait!” Yang kicked her heels off and snatched them up before pursuing her faunus partner.

“Why?!” Blake shouted, keeping her back to Yang as she kept moving away. “So you can keep making fun of me? I _trusted you_!”

Engaging her Aura, Yang, braced her bare heel and kicked off, flashing past Blake and kicking up a wake of dust and wind that snapped out behind her as she stopped directly in front of Blake.

Blake ducked her head down, letting her long, flowing black hair cover her face as she tried to push Yang away and move around the blonde. Her heart wasn’t in it, though, she didn’t have it in her to push Yang around, even if her human partner weren’t an order of magnitude stronger, force-wise than she was. Blake’s strength was in speed, evasion, and infiltration while Yang’s strength was in… well, strength.

Sheer brute force.

It was what made them such good partners in combat.

Blake tried to push Yang off but the blonde caught her wrists, holding them gently. Blake knew she could yank them back, Yang was so strong and not an ounce of that strength was in her grip at that moment, she knew it just like she knew Yang wouldn’t tighten that grip.

Even now, angry as she was, Blake knew Yang would _never_ hurt her.

Not like _He_ had.

“Please, Bee,” Yang pleaded in a small voice. “I didn’t mean to… I wasn’t making fun of you, okay? I was just… being an idiot, I guess… I was trying to be funny.” Blake looked up at her, glaring with red eyes past a veil of curling black locks. “And instead I made the prettiest girl in Beacon cry, so… yeah, I was an idiot, a~nd I’m really, _really_ sorry.”

Blake let out a noise like a combination of a squeak and hiccup.

“I’m not… not good with people,” Yang said quietly as she lowered her hands. “I know I seem like I am but… it’s all kind of a front, alright? Ruby is the one who’s really good with people. She always knows exactly what to say, and she’s always so earnest and real when she says it that people can’t help but love her and I… well,” Yang sighed as she gestured in Blake’s general direction, “I just have a really crappy sense of humor.”

Blake wiped at her eyes as the awkward silence stretched between them.

“Were you joking about… about yourself, too?” Blake asked quietly after a bit of time had passed. “Was that part of it?”

Yang glanced up, raising an eyebrow in question before realising what Blake was asking. “O-Oh, about me and ladies? Nah… I wouldn’t joke about that, Bee. Look, guys are nice and all, but girls are soft, and smell nice, and, uhm, yeah…”

“Wow, you are _really_ bad at this,” Blake said with a small laugh. “No offense, Yang, but I’m pretty sure Jaune has more game than you, and we’ve both heard him try to serenade Weiss.”

“That’s real cold, Bee,” Yang replied, slouching in defeat. “You cut me real deep with that one.”

“You deserved it,” Blake said, swatting Yang playing on the arm.

Yang shrugged and nodded. “Ye~ah, I kinda did…”

Driving the heels of her palms into her face, Yang let out a low rumbling groan.

“I’m _so bad at this_ , Blake,” Yang griped. “Seriously, the minute I’m in front of a pretty girl I’m either a sauve _jackass_ or I’ve got my foot so far down my throat I’m farting shoelaces, and neither of those are _good options_!”

“Did you mean the other thing you said?” Blake asked stepping a little closer to Yang and favoring her with a small but genuine smile. “About ‘prettiest girl in Beacon’?”

Yang felt the blood rush to her face as she stared down at Blake. Those bright golden eyes were doing wonders for tying her tongue into brand new, non-euclidean knots.

‘ _Well, never let it be said that Yang Xiao Long doesn’t go all in_ ,’ Yang thought as she took a deep breath and nodded.

“Y-yeah,” Yang said quietly. “You’re… crazy pretty, and not like Weiss is. Seriously, don’t get me wrong, Weiss is gorgeous but she’s also like… like marble. You’re so _alive_ , and it just drives me crazy, y’know?” Slapping her hands over her face, Yang let out another groan. “Ugh, I sound like a moron! Please stop me if I start sounding like a creep.”

“Mmm, I think you crossed that line with complimenting me on being ‘alive’,” Blake said, enjoying a small laugh at Yang’s expense as her partner groaned. “But… otherwise, you’re on the right track.”

Uh…” Yang stared as she swallowed thickly. “Track to uh… to where?”

“Well… I… I guess that’s up to you,” Blake replied, feeling jittery, nervous, and a little like throwing up, but the knowledge that while Yang definitely wouldn’t hold it against her, she would _definitely_ bring it up for the rest of their lives kept it at bay. “Where do you want it to go?”

Yang blew out a nervous breath and laughed, wincing as her voice cracked a little.

“Uh… I guess… here?” Yang said.

Slowly and _very_ tentatively Yang stepped closer to Blake and leaned in, a little thankful they were so close in height so as to keep her own awkwardness to a minimum. Blake smiled a little as her and Yang’s noses brushed, and Yang brought a hand up to Blake’s cheek, testing the waters and feeling a little more confident as Blake leaned slightly into her palm.

Yang stopped an agonizing few millimeters from Blake’s lips, she didn’t want to try to push but… she wanted to at the same time and-

Blake covered the last bit of distance herself, leaning in to brush her lips softly against Yang’s. For the first time since she could remember Blake felt a lightness in her heart, a heart that was weighed down with sins, with her actions in the White Fang, and most strongly by her memories of-

No, she wouldn’t think of him, not now, not during her first kiss with…

Blake pressed in a little more firmly, and Yang let out a small and paradoxically cute moan of pleasure at the contact. Yang’s right hand remained gently at Blake’s cheek, caressing her fingers down her pale neck and then back up, while Yang’s left hand came to rest on Blake’s waist as the faunus smiled into the kiss for a moment before pulling away.

“So… I guess we’re giving this a try?” Blake asked a little hopefully. “If… if you want to, I mean… you probably figured out that I come with a lot of, uh… baggage.”

Yang grinned as she raised an arm and flexed. “No problem, Bee, these guns were _made_ for lifting baggage.”

Blake sighed and shook her head before leaning in to peck Yang on the cheek

“It’s a good thing you’re cute,” Blake said with a small laugh.

“Right? Go me!” Yang replied with a weak smile, raising a fist in a tiny cheer.

It wasn’t often that Blake could feel normal. Normalcy just wasn’t a part of her life, even as a child. Every moment of her youth was spent fighting for the faunus cause, for equality, for her _people_ , so having a moment, even a small one, where she could feel like a normal teenage girl felt… good.

It felt liberating.

And Blake found that she liked how that felt a great deal.

“Hey Yang, were you joking about Coco too?” Blake asked as she took Yang’s hand. “About… y’know.”

“Oh, yeah, no she’s gay as _hell_ ,” Yang replied, blushing a little at the sudden casual touch but gripping Blake’s hand tightly all the same. “There’s a reason she’s so protective of Velvet is all I’m saying.”

“I guess Hunters and Huntresses all have to be a little weird to take up this job, huh?” Blake said, smiling up at Yang. “Guess it was the right line of work for me after all, huh?”

“Sure was,” Yang said firmly. “If you’d stayed with _them_ then I’d have had to get you to fall for me from opposite sides and that would’ve been a lot harder!”

“You say that like we wouldn’t have just been killing each other,” Blake replied dryly.

“Mm… nope!” Yang declared as she kept walking with Blake following along with a raised eyebrow.

“Nope?”

“Nope!” Yang confirmed.

“Do I want to ask why not?” Blake asked as they entered the dormitory.

Yang remained silent for several moments, and Blake could see the pensive look on her face as they made their way back up to team RWBY’s quarters. They made it all the way to their door before Yang finally turned to face her partner with a calm smile on her face.

“Because I’d _never_ hurt you, Blake,” Yang said simply. “Not in a million years _or_ lifetimes.”

Blake’s mouth hung open at Yang’s reply, and she hadn’t even _begun_ to formulate a response before Yang scooped her up in her arms, violently kicked open the door, and strode in carrying Blake like a fairy-tale princess only to loudly declare to Ruby and Weiss who were staring at the pair in shock:

“Hey, Ruby, Weiss! Guess who’s dating a cute cat-girl!”

The silence was deafening, broken several seconds later by a low, deadly voice coming from Yang’s arms.

“Yang Xiao Long, I’m going to kill you in your sleep.”


	2. Fallin' All Over Myself

“Bla~ke, I can’t find my shirt!” Yang complained from where she had her head buried in her footlocker at the base of their shared bunk bed. “It was here last night!”

Blake, who was sitting curled under her covers in her favorite sweater and sweatpants, had her nose in her newest book and was  _ fully aware _ that the missing shirt had been there last night. Glancing behind herself at the bundle of pillows she was leaning against, Blake narrowed her eyes at the bit of stray collar that was sticking out from underneath them and nudged it back into its hiding place.

“Unless you’re doing laundry, they should all be where you put them,” Blake replied noncommittally. “Are you sure you put it there?”

“Absolutely sure,” Yang said as she stood and straightened out, she was wearing a simple yellow tank top and white shorts that showed off her deliciously fit body, and Blake couldn’t help but stare over the top of her book. “I was really looking forward to showing it to you, too! I just got it in town, there’s this place that does cool custom shirts.”

Blake made a mental note to get the address for that shop and have words with its proprietor. She might not be White Fang anymore but if they were the ones responsible for the monstrosity that was currently tucked under her pillows then a little arson might be a blessing.

“You have dozens of shirts, Yang,” Blake said, glancing up from her book more obviously, “just pick one, or don’t, it’s our day off, we don’t even have classes we can just relax.”

Yang closed the locker and sat on it, huffing in annoyance. “I know but I wanted to go out with you today, y’know? Spend some time together where we’re not sparring or listening to one of Professor Port’s weird, rambling lectures… go on a real date!”

“A real…” Blake blushed but hid the proof it behind her book, though her happily twitching faunus ears gave away her mood nonetheless. “I mean, we could go anywhere, honestly.”

“Yeah, I know,” Yang replied with a touch of melancholy in her voice.

“Wait a minute…” Blake narrowed her eyes as she glanced back at her pillow, then back up at Yang. “You were going to take me out on a date wearing  _ THAT _ ?!”

Yang’s head snapped up to stare at Blake who had set her book down and was glaring venomously across the bed at the blonde who was now beginning to sweat.

“Uh… I guess… you found it?” Yang said with an uneasy chuckle as she began getting up and edging away from a smoldering Blake who was rising from the bed.

Blake dragged the fitted black tank top out from under the pillows as she stood up and stalked towards Yang who was back-peddling away from her faunus partner and secretly thanking fortune that Ruby and Weiss had gone out earlier. 

Ruby was far too young to witness a murder.

“Aw c-c’mon, Bee,” Yang laughed. “I thought it would be cute!”

“This!” Blake lifted the tank top and shook it violently while glaring at Yang, “is not  _ cute _ . It’s… it’s…”

Unable to complete her thought, much less translate it into words, Blake bunched up the shirt and hurled it into the wall with an inchoate scream of rage.

“What is your  _ problem _ ?!” Blake yelled, her hackles up and her ears flattened. “Why would you wear something like that in  _ public _ ?! I had a hard enough time telling you, and you’re my  _ best friend _ !”

Yang wilted at the verbal tirade, and Blake felt a pang of guilt at the look on the blonde’s face. Yang, for better or worse, wore every one of her emotions on her sleeve. On the upside, it meant that Blake never had to wonder if Yang was enjoying herself or not, or if she was mad, or upset. 

Everything Yang did was  _ loud _ .

Even Yang’s thoughts were loud, Blake could tell when she was deep in thought, or when she was troubled by something. Yang was bad at hiding what she was feeling in the best of circumstances and downright awful at hiding anything from Blake herself.

Yang looked genuinely heartbroken at that moment, as she wrapped her arms around herself, and after a few seconds shrugged and looked back up at Blake.

“Sorry, I didn’t really think that one through, huh?” Yang said weakly.

Blake dragged a hand down her face and groaned. Ruby might have puppy-dog eyes that could stop a war but Yang’s sad-face was a  _ very _ close second, and Blake could feel her anger ebbing away.

“No, no you didn’t,” Blake replied in an arid tone. “I’m kind of curious as to what you  _ were _ thinking, actually.”

Yang walked over and sat down on Blake’s bed and hung her head a little. Sighing, Blake joined her, leaning gently against Yang and resting her head on the blonde’s broad shoulder. The small touch, the casual affection, told Yang that she was forgiven, even if Blake was still annoyed.

“I guess I’m just… I’m really happy with you,” Yang replied quietly, “being  _ with _ you, I mean… I’m crazy happy and I want everyone to know how happy you make me.”

Blake sighed softly again and curled up beside Yang, looping her arms around Yang’s, trailing her fingers over the defined bicep and forearm, down to Yang’s hand where she laced their fingers together. Yang squeezed Blakes hand a little, part silent apology part affirmation that Blake was just… there.

“That’s… nice, and sweet,” Blake said quietly. “And I know you’re out and all that but… I’m… weird enough as it is, I don’t know if I’m ready.”

“Yeah, sorry I’m a jerk sometimes, Bee,” Yang said with a small laugh as she leaned against Blake and buried her face in the faunus’ dark locks.

Blake’s hair always smelled like vanilla, not strongly, just a hint of it, and it was so calming to Yang.

“Even if I was like you,” Blake said wryly, “I can’t possibly condone you wearing that abomination.”

“Aw, c’mon, it’s awesome!” Yang complained, gesturing at the wadded up tank top on the floor.

Blake grunted in annoyance and stood up, detaching herself from Yang as she stomped over to the wad of fabric and held up.

“This is  _ not _ awesome,” Blake said firmly, “it’s weird and rude and crass enough to make Weiss roll over in her grave, and she’s not even dead yet, but I’m  _ positive _ that her seeing you actually wear this in public would fix that.”

The tank top in question was matte black along the sides and around the collar and shoulders, while the front was bright white straight down the middle from just below the collar to the bottom hem in a broad stripe upon which was written in huge, bold-faced red letters: MY GF IS A PUSSY.

Underneath the final line, stopping right where the shirt would terminate over Yang’s belly-button, was a cartoony face of a black cat.

“And,” Blake continued, “I’m still trying to decide if it’s racist or not, I can’t tell.”

“Oof, I really messed up this time, huh, Bee?” Yang said quietly, flopping back on Blake’s bed. “I’m really sorry, okay?”

Blake sighed, she found she did that a lot more ever since she and Yang had met, much less started dating. Rather than wad up the shirt, Blake folded it carefully and crawled into the bed and curled up beside Yang as she set the folded tank top on Yang’s stomach.

“You can wear it  _ here _ ,” Blake gestured to their room, “and nowhere else.”

Yang stared at Blake for a few moments before grinning widely and pulling the tank top over her head and tugging it down. The moment it was straight, she wrapped Blake in a crushing hug as she giggled and laughed, nuzzling against the top of Blake’s head. Blake, for her part, both endured and enjoyed Yang’s sudden outpouring of affection.

As she had noted before, everything Yang did was loud.

Yang relaxed a little, pulling Blake closer to her as she nuzzled their noses together for a moment before pressing her lips gently to Blake’s own. As Yang stroked her fingers through Blake’s long, beautiful black hair, she could occasionally feel the happy twitches from Blake’s faunus ears, and her partner smiled against the kiss.

Blake took the moment to tangle her own fingers into Yang’s own hair that Blake always found herself comparing to a waterful of sunshine. For all of Yang’s tough exterior, Blake knew for a fact that Yang woke up an hour before anyone else, even herself, to take care of her hair.

Brushing, shampooing, conditioning, then more brushing kept Yang’s meticulously cared-for mane of gold as soft as silk, and Blake had to admit that one of the perks of their fledgling relationship meant that she had unlimited access to running her fingers through Yang’s hair, something she wouldn’t even let Ruby do.

Although Ruby frequently had marshmallow, chocolate, or something else on her fingers, so maybe that was for the best. Their fearless leader had a sweet tooth rivaling the bloodlust of an alpha beowolf. 

Speaking of their fearless leader.

Ruby burst into the room with all the nonchalance she was famous for carrying a plastic bag that was clearly overloaded with junk food.

“Hey Yang, hey Blake,” Ruby waved, smiling brightly as she tossed her bag up onto her bed.

“Are they decent?” Weiss’ voice came from the hallway.

“They’re cuddling and smoochin’, but they’ve got clothes on and everything,” Ruby called, prompting Weiss to enter the room.

“Ooh, hey Weiss!” Yang said excitedly as she began freeing herself from Blake.

Blake’s eyes widened as she realised what was about to happen. This was the moment of truth: she could warn Weiss, she could tell her to run, to avert her eyes, anything to spare her from the incoming barrage of unfiltered  _ Yang _ .

Or…

“Hey Weiss, check out my new shirt!”

Blake had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud at the wild range of expressions that crossed over Weiss’ face from curiosity, to focus as she read the words, to disbelief, and finally settling on a look of warped horror that left her with her jaw hanging open as she tried to articulate kind of response.

Okay, maybe the shirt was a  _ little _ awesome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by this pic: https://pm1.narvii.com/6368/9ebe217c837269f13759e6d8fd151c9171c8242b_hq.jpg


	3. Scar Tissue

Blake’s eyes snapped wide as a scream caught hard in her throat, trapped behind clenched teeth. Cold sweat matted her hair to the bed and her bare shoulders and the sheets of the bed tangled about her legs like a choking vine.

For several moments Blake lay flat on her back, staring up at the bunk bed above her where she knew Yang slept. Slowly, Blake breathed in and out as small tremors stole through her limbs.

“A nightmare,” Blake whispered to herself. “It was a nightmare… he’s not here… he’s not here…” She repeated the words like a mantra, but knowing something was true and _believing_ it were two different things.

Especially in the dark of the night.

Taking a deep breath, Blake closed her eyes. “He’s not here,” she repeated again as she reached under her pillows and closed her grip around the hilt of Gambol Shroud. “He’s not here…”

Ever since the attack by the White Fang on Vale, the revelation of the depth of the Fang’s involvement, and their attempt to release a flood of Grimm into the city, the nightmares had become worse. Blake had fled to Beacon Academy to be free of the White Fang but it seemed like no matter where she went she was destined to run across them, and moreover… Blake took in another shuddering breath because she _knew_ that some part of her mantra was a lie.

Maybe He wasn’t in the room with her, and yes, maybe He wouldn’t be there when she turned her head and looked at the other side of her bed, with his hard hands and unyielding, pitiless grip, but…

He _was_ here.

No chapter of the White Fang was as bloodthirsty as _His_ , and no other chapter, however hateful they were of humans, would dare risk using Grimm on that scale.

With that said: Grimm didn’t scare Blake. Not really, not beyond the basic concern for her wellbeing that she felt near anything else dangerous.

No, Blake could fight Grimm all day long; she had stared into the eyes of Beowolves, danced on the back of a Nevermore, played pinfinger with a Deathstalker’s stingers, and gone blade to fangs with a King Tajitu alone because…

Because they weren’t _Him_.

Grimm were hardly the worst monsters in the world, really… in fact, at least Grimm made sense. They hated humanity, they were born to destroy both man and faunus alike and cover all the world in their soulless darkness.

“At least they make sense,” Blake whispered, curling in on herself and shivering as she pulled her blankets around her and clenched her eyes shut, feeling the tears burn behind her eyes. “He’s not here… he’s not here… he’s not here…”

It wasn’t working this time, and Blake knew damn well why.

He was here.

Sniffling a little, Blake sat up and pulled the blankets with her to wrap around her slight frame. Glancing around, she saw Weiss, curled up and snoozing gracefully, and Blake could almost imagine her having etiquette lessons on how to ‘Sleep Like A Schnee’. Above Weiss was the perennial hot mess that was Ruby, sprawled chaotically in something that was less of a bed and more of a nest of blankets and pillows. Never did their leader look more like a child than when she was sleeping, but Blake knew there was true, fire-forged iron under that soft exterior.

They made a lot of jokes about their ‘fearless leader’ but Blake had seen Ruby in battle. Some part of her really did believe that Ruby was fearless.

No, maybe not fearless, but courageous. Possessed of fear but possessed of the inner strength and character to grapple with that fear and always rise above it to do what was needed.

Ruby was many things: a kid, a mess, a procrastinator par excellence.

A hero.

Blake grimaced… Ruby was everything that she herself was _not_.

And yet Ruby’s sister, Yang, still wanted to be with her. No matter how much baggage Blake carried or how waspish she got at times, or how snappy she could get… Yang just smiled like it never even touched her.

“Yang…” Blake muttered, glancing above her. “I wonder if…”

Swallowing hard, Blake stood quietly from her bed and got up on her tip-toes to peek over the bedside to look at the blonde brawler she’d gone head over heels for, or at least she tried to.

The bed was empty.

A shock of panic bolted through Blake’s heart for a moment as she was convinced, somehow, that Yang had been kidnapped, but it lasted for only a split second before her better senses told her that Yang had probably just gotten up for a walk. The Academy, at least, was safe, as far as Blake knew, and for all of Ozpin’s mysterious ways, she had faith that he always put his students’ wellbeing first.

Blake looked down at her bed and shivered as she considered trying to get back to sleep. She knew what was waiting for her there.

Red eyes, red hair, and a blade the color of blood gripped by hands blacker than a Grimm’s empty heart.

“Yang,” Blake whispered the name softly to herself as she tossed the blanket she’d wrapped herself in back onto the bed and pulled on a sweater.

Either she would go out and find Yang, or the blonde would be back by the time she was. Hopefully, in either case, she would be in the mood to endure Blake’s night terrors, and Blake frowned as she slipped out into the hall. Saying ‘hopefully’ was foolish, she knew. Of course, Yang would… Yang was _always_ there when Blake needed her even when Blake wasn’t the most supportive girlfriend in the world. Their relationship had always felt a little lopsided to Blake who constantly felt like she was forcing Yang to walk on eggshells around her.

Don’t do this, don’t do that; Blake frowned more deeply as she wrapped her arms around herself and moved quietly through the halls.

Yang deserved far better than her, Blake knew that but… Yang had chosen her anyway and even if she never said it aloud, the truth was that Yang made Blake so deliriously happy that it almost frightened her. So even if Yang deserved better, what she had gotten was Blake and, with that in mind, Blake was absolutely determined to try and be as good for Yang as she could.

That meant talking and not bottling things up like she was used to. Yang had made a point of that a few times when Blake would withdraw into herself. It made Yang feel helpless and that wasn’t what Blake wanted. She just hadn’t wanted to weigh Yang down with her problems.

So Blake had promised she would try.

Blake’s line of thought was interrupted by a faint sound, a voice, and her faunus ears twitched to and fro trying to locate the sound, especially since the voice was unmistakable too, Blake would know Yang’s voice _anywhere_.

Padding silently along, Blake followed the voice as she realised it was singing. It was a little off-key and a touch oddly tuned, but it was definitely singing.

Yang was singing.

Blake had never, once heard Yang sing, especially not sing what sounded like a lullaby. Something about the rawness of it, though, made it beautiful. Yang’s low, husky register carried the tune well, if inexpertly, and as she got closer the words began to resolve.

“ _...bo~rne aloft on ra~vens’ wings,_

_Carried through seasons of endless Spring,_

_Through Summer, and Autumn, and Wi~nter, too_

_Ra~vens’ wings will ca~rry you_

_To drea~ms’ wai~ting arms._ ”

Moving quietly, Blake turned the corner and spied Yang sitting on the edge of a balcony with the cool wind blowing in from the open balcony doors. Her sleep-tangled mane of gold flickered in the moonlight and for a moment it was all Blake could do to keep her feet under her.

Yang was _so beautiful_.

To Blake’s faunus eyes Yang almost glowed, her whole body was lit by the starlight and moonlight reflecting off of her long graceful limbs and sun-kissed skin. Her back was to Blake as she stared off into the distance to the north over the vast autumnal expanse of Forever Fall Forest, all the while singing her slow, lilting lullaby to nobody.

“ _Sleep now child and kno~w no fear,_

_No Grimm shall creep from far nor near,_

_For ra~vens’ wings shall ca~rry you_

_To drea~ms’ wai~ting a~rms…_

_To drea~ms’ wai~ting a~rms…_ ”

Briefly, Blake considered stepping away and heading back to the room. This moment felt private and Blake felt almost as if she were watching something she ought not be, except…

“I know you’re there, Bee,” Yang called quietly and Blake almost jumped. “C’mon,” she said, patting the rail she was sitting on without turning, “plenty of room, pull up a balcony.”

Blake stepped out of the shadows and onto the moonlit landing, and Yang finally turned to face her with a smile. Blake couldn’t help but notice the bags under Yang’s eyes, and the faint tracks on her cheeks from spent tears.

“How did you know?”

Yang chuckled. “It’s you, Bee, I can always tell when you’re around, call it a partner’s intuition.”

“Are you okay?” Blake asked as she moved up next to Yang, taking a seat on the balcony rail and leaning just enough that their shoulders were touching. “You weren’t in the room and… I guess I got worried.”

“Sorry to worry you, Bee,” Yang said with a small smile. “Couldn’t sleep, so I took a walk.”

“I see that,” Blake replied as she glanced around. “I’ve… I didn’t know you could sing.”

Yang snorted. “If you call that singing, I guess, sorry you had to hear that.”

“It was beautiful,” Blake said, furrowing her brow. “I mean, maybe not Weiss-at-the-opera, but… I think it reminded me of my mom, back before things went bad she would sing me to sleep.”

“Sounds awful nice,” Yang replied, and Blake could hear a faint hint of bitterness behind Yang’s tone.

“Yang… what’s wrong?” Blake reached out and laced her fingers with Yang’s, who sighed softly.

“Crap, I… I’m sorry, Blake, I just…” Yang blew out a breath and shrugged. “I’m a daytime girl, y’know? At night, unless it’s a party, I’m just a sad sack.”

“Talk to me, then,” Blake said firmly. “What’s wrong?”

“You know… how I never really knew my mom, right?” Yang said quietly, more than asked, “I knew Ruby’s mom, Summer, and she was always mom to me, y’know? But _my mom_? My dad’s first love? Yeah… she abandoned us ages ago, took off when I was a baby pretty much.” Yang sighed and squeezed Blake’s hand. “But I used to have this dream when I was a kid, right? I would wake up in my room and everything would be dark but… but I knew I wasn’t alone.”

Blake shivered, she knew that dream all too well, but for a different reason.

“I’d look around and that’s when I’d see this shadow,” Yang continued. “Tall and strong, and a pair of gleaming red eyes, and it would feel like a nightmare at first and then… then the shadow would start singing.”

“That lullaby…?” Blake asked quietly, and Yang nodded.

“I had the dream on and off for years,” Yang admitted, “and there were days, really hard days, especially after Summer died, where I would go to bed early after putting Ruby down, and I prayed I would have the dream because if I did then I could close my eyes and pretend it was my mom singing to me… singing me to sleep.” Yang hung her head, and Blake felt her heart catch in her throat as she saw tears trickle down Yang’s face. “I… I could pretend that my mom loved me, even if it’s a lie.”

“Well, _I_ love you!” Blake blurted out.

Silence descended on the pair of girls like a velveteen hammer as Yang hiccupped and stared across at Blake with wide, tear-stained eyes now void of any emotion beyond shock. For Blake’s part, she met the stare as her brain was suddenly grinding. If she didn’t know it was impossible, Blake would have been certain that there was smoke pouring out of her ears as a creeping blush made its way up her face.

‘ _Don’t run, don’t run, don’t run_ ,’ Blake’s brain was spitting out the same words as she worked her jaw for a few minutes before finally finding her voice again.

“I was scared!” Blake finally managed to say, not daring to look away from the shocked lilac eyes transfixing her. “On the train… when we split up, I was terrified it was going to be the last time I was ever going to see you! I wanted to say it then but I… I was a coward!”

“Blake you… you don’t have to…” Yang said quietly, and Blake could see her grip the edge of the railing hard enough to make her knuckles go white. “I… I’m fine okay? You don’t have to say it if you don’t mean it, I’m a big g-girl and-”

“I _do_ mean it!” Blake cried, reaching out and gripping Yang’s hand. “I… I love you, Yang, okay? I love you!”

For a moment, Blake was certain Yang was about to pull her hand back. For whatever reason, Yang didn’t look happy, or excited, or even pleased.

She looked terrified.

“Yang?” Blake whispered softly.

Yang’s breaths were coming in short, sharp heaves, and Blake could feel her shaking almost violently.

“Yang, what’s wrong?”

“I…” Yang started before seeming to choke on her words. She swallowed thickly and worked her jaw a few times before finally saying: “I’m scared.”

Blake moved a little closer and put a hand on Yang’s cheek, letting her thumb trace gently over the dried trails that tears had left.

“Why?” Blake asked as she searched Yang’s expression for anything definite she could find under the torment of emotion Yang was showing. “My whole life has been running away, but you? You’ve always been strong. Why would _you_ be scared?”

Yang bit her lip as she leaned into Blake’s touch, and the silence stretched for a long enough moment that Blake had just started to think Yang wasn’t going to answer when she finally spoke, though it was in a voice so soft that even Blake’s faunus ears had to strain to hear it.

“Because I love you, too, Bee.”

Blake felt her breath catch in her chest at the words. A part of her hadn’t expected Yang to say them back but another part had hoped, had _prayed_ , that she would hear them; to know that there was something real between them beyond just the bond of partners.

It wasn’t that being partners wasn’t good, but for Blake? When it came to Yang, at least, Blake knew ‘partners’ wouldn’t be enough. She knew it, in part, when Yang had convinced her to go to the dance but hadn’t had the courage to put herself out there for Yang. _After_ the dance, though? That night when she’d told Yang about herself and Yang had joked and smiled and kissed her?

That was when Blake had become absolutely _certain_.

“I know that the life of a Huntress is a hard one,” Blake said in a soft voice, leaning forward and rest her head against Yang’s shoulder. “And I know that one day… maybe it will end horribly… some Grimm or… I just… I want to be there for it all, okay? I don’t want to waste any time because I don’t…”

‘ _Because I don’t know how much more time he’ll give me,_ ’ Blake finished, mentally. ‘ _Because I know exactly who will go first and I’m so, so sorry._ ’

“Don’t talk like that,” Yang bit the words out almost harshly, causing Blake to back up a little and her ears to fold back gently. “We’re coming out of this… this clown fiesta that’s going on here, okay?! And I’m taking you back to Patch to meet my dad, and it’s going to be awful and embarrassing because he’s kept every stupid baby photo! And then I’m gonna meet your parents and it’ll be even worse because I mean look at me!” Yang gestured to herself wildly. “I’m a walking disaster! How am I supposed to convince the parents of the prettiest girl in Remnant that I deserve to be dating her?!”

Blake sniffled slightly, wiping at her own eyes as she took a deep breath of Yang’s scent; some mixture of citrus and what Blake could only imagine was _actual_ sunshine.

“I thought I was just the prettiest girl at Beacon,” Blake joked, nudging Yang in the ribs. “Holding out on me?”

“Heh, maybe,” Yang chuckled, wrapping an arm around Blake’s waist and pulling her in close. “H-Hey, Blake?”

“Yeah?” Blake looked up at Yang, her ears twitching happily as she relaxed in the stronger girl’s arms.

“Can… can I ask you to make me a promise?” Yang’s voice was brittle and Blake could hear the strain and the pain behind it. “It’s okay if not… it’ll sound, maybe… way too intense, even for me, I know.”

“What is it?”

Yang took a deep breath, her eyes darting around and staring in any direction but at Blake, and when she spoke up Blake could hear the thickness in her voice that told the faunus that Yang was only barely keeping it together.

“W-will you promise me you’ll never leave me?” Yang said, the last words coming out in a cracked sob. “Like… like m-my mom, or like Summer, or… or my dad when he just shut off? Please?”

‘ _Yes_ ,’ Blake thought furiously. ‘ _Tell her yes, tell her you’ll never leave her side in a hundred years, tell her you’ll be there for every second and she’ll never, ever have to feel alone again. Tell her you will always be there whenever she needs you and… and-_ ’

“I can’t,” Blake sobbed softly. “Yang, I’m sorry I… I can’t make that promise…”

Blake swore she could almost see the light leave Yang’s eyes and before she could lose any more ground she lunged in and tackled Yang backward off of the rail and onto the landing.

“Please, it’s not what you think, I swear, I want to promise you everything, I do!” Blake’s words fell out of her in a torrent as she tried to catch up to whatever darkness was racing into Yang’s heart. “I can’t promise you that because it would be a lie and I can’t… I can’t lie to you, not like that, not ever.”

After a few moments, Yang’s arms slowly slipped around Blake and pulled her close. Blake curled up against Yang, almost hiding in her arms. Hiding from the blood-red eyes that were staring at her from the horizon.

“Why?”

Blake sniffled as Yang asked her question and for a moment, Blake considered not answering. How could she? How could she explain what she’d done? What _He_ had done? What she had endured?

Except… it was Yang. If she could tell anyone, it would always be Yang.

Taking a deep breath, Blake shuddered and leaned in to bury her face against Yang’s chest.

“I’ve been having nightmares lately,” Blake began in a quiet voice. “I get them a lot, actually, but more since the train.” Yang didn’t reply, she just tightened her embrace and waited. “I dream of my old partner in the Fang,” Blake continued. “Once upon a time, I thought he was a hero, then… then he became more to me… and… and then he became _everything_.”

Blake felt Yang’s breath catch in her chest, but she still didn’t speak, she just waited for Blake to finish and Blake mentally thanked whatever gods or spirits this world had left to it for Yang’s patience.

“I think… maybe once he might have been heroic,” Blake said. “But he changed as time passed. He let hatred change him, and… I let it change me along with him. I let him do whatever he wanted,” Blake shuddered again. “To _whoever_ he wanted, and even when I could have stopped him, said something to him, questioned him… I didn’t. I just… let it happen because it was _him_.”

“You don’t have to…” Yang said quietly. “If you can’t you don’t have to tell me.”

Blake shook her head. “I need to, I need you to know who I am… what I’ve done… how many p-people I let him hurt… let him kill.”

“You’re not responsible for that, Bee,” Yang hissed. “You didn’t-”

“I could have stopped him!” Blake cried. “I could have and I _didn’t_! Maybe I didn’t kill them myself but I could have stopped him and I didn’t! I couldn’t even tell he was turned from the revolutionary hero I admired into something that was pure… pure evil!”

“I… I don’t know if I believe in pure evil,” Yang replied gently.

Blake tensed, shaking a little as she remembered his voice, his eyes…

“Because you’ve never met _Adam Taurus_ ,” Blake hissed quietly. “He hurts people because he enjoys it, he kills because he loves it… I think it might be the only thing he loves except…”

Yang glanced down as Blake clammed up completely, and furrowed her brow in concern. “Except?”

“Except me,” Blake whispered. “And I left him, I got away from him, and now he’s here… and he’s… he’s going to kill me for what I did.”

Moving slowly, Yang shifted until she was crouched over Blake, her hands on either side of her partner’s head and she was staring straight down at Blake who still refused to look up at her. Despite the chill in the air from the cool autumn breeze, Yang felt as warm as if a fire had been lit behind her heart.

“If he _is_ here then I swear to you, Bee,” Yang growled, “I will _never_ let him touch you again.”

Blake looked up and felt a jolt of awe at what she saw. Yang was staring down at her, and her eyes were blazing red, her hair was flickering a way that Blake had only ever seen in the throes of combat.

“Yang Xiao Long, you’re the strongest and most beautiful person I know,” Blake said quietly, reaching up to rest both of her hands on Yang’s cheeks, “but, when he comes for me, let him, because he _will_ kill you, and if I have to watch that I-”

“So that means I have to watch _you_ die?” Yang snapped. “No, not a chance, I will _never_ be able to do that, Bee. So if he comes for you, then he comes for _us_.”

“This isn’t your fight, Yang,” Blake said in a tear-stained, bitter voice.

“I’m making it my fight,” Yang replied angrily, “because you’re worth fighting for, and if you’re right? If he is stronger? Then we go down together because I wouldn’t be able to live with myself anyway if I let him touch you without putting my fist to his face at least _once_.”

Blake clenched her eyes shut as her ears flattened. “I don’t want that to be how our story ends, Yang… it’s not fair.”

Yang sat up, pulling Blake along with her as she dusted herself off, and Blake reluctantly peeled off of her to sat awkwardly beside her partner.

“So I guess that means either we win,” Yang said with enough nonchalance that it actually annoyed Blake a little, “or we run.”

“What if that just means we’re running our whole lives?”

“It might… but we’re not alone, Bee,” Yang said with a small smile, “we’ve got all of Team RWBY, remember? Do you really think Ruby and Weiss would give up on us?” Sensing Blake about to protest, though, Yang continued, “and I’m not thrilled about putting Ruby in this too, but… they’re our team, remember? How do you think they’d feel?”

With every word, it was like the burden got just a little bit lighter on Blake’s shoulders. For so long her entire world had consisted of herself and Adam, first as partners, then whatever dark thing their relationship became, then eventually as predator and prey. Even after she had met and bonded with the rest of her team there remained that degree of isolation and separation between them caused by the pervading knowledge that Adam wasn’t coming for _them_.

He was coming for _her_.

In Blake’s mind she knew there would be a shadow that stank of blood dogging her every step for the rest of her life, he would _never_ let her go, and he would never give her peace, It wasn’t in his nature. Blake had resigned herself to look over her shoulder until the day of reckoning finally came, because he would chase her forever, leaving her diminished until she felt no more substantial than one of her phantoms.

Until the day came when the chase became too much and Blake would choose to stop running, and turn to accept his blade; alone, unmourned, and forgotten.

Except now, as if by magic, there she was: a golden, shining light standing beside her, fist raised in defiance at Adam’s rage, and beside _her_ is Ruby’s bright, gleaming passionate red battling Adam’s sickly crimson, and Weiss’ clean, snowy white, washing away the stains of black he left in his wake.

Suddenly Blake wasn’t alone.

“And even if it comes to the worst?” Yang continued, reaching out and taking Blake’s hand as she spoke. “Even if we have to run? Then we’ll run together, okay?”

Blake felt a tickle along her cheek, and she lifted her hand to brush away a stream of hot tears that had suddenly begun trickling down her face. Swallowing hard, Blake took a deep, shuddering breath and smiled.

“Okay,” Blake finally replied.

“Partners by chance-” Yang said with a wry smirk, remembering their meeting in the woods at the beginning of their tenure at Beacon.

“-and by choice,” Blake said finishing the thought, with the memory of their first kiss outside of the dance hall.

Standing up a little shakily, Yang held out a hand for Blake who gladly accepted it, and pulled her partner to her feet. She didn’t let go of Blake’s hand, though, instead just lacing their fingers together and smiling.

“So, back to bed, Bee?” Yang asked, and Blake realised they both must look exhausted. “Because I’m beat.”

“Yeah, bed sounds pretty good about now,” Blake replied.

The pair walked through the dark, mostly unlit halls, guided with better speed and direction to their room than Yang had experienced coming out to the balcony thanks to her partner’s faunus eyes. They were almost back when Blake spoke up again in a shy, subdued tone.

“Hey, Yang?”

“What’s up, Bee?” Yang asked as their door came into view.

Blake clammed up again, her cheeks turning a brilliant red as she tried to come up with a good way of asking what she wanted to ask without it sounding wrong. No matter how her brain turned the words about, it still sounded bad, though.

‘ _Whatever, it’s Yang, she’ll make fun of me and say yes regardless,_ ’ Blake mused, and the thought brought a tiny smile to her face that was hidden by the low light.

“Yang… can I sleep next to you tonight?” Blake asked finally, staring down at the ground as she did her best to keep the blush off of her face.

Yang’s response being a foregone conclusion or not, it was still a little embarrassing to have to ask. It made Blake feel like a child crawling into her parents’ bed after a nightmare.

There was no wry response, though. No joke or inappropriate pun like Blake had been expecting. Instead, when Blake looked up Yang was just smiling at her.

“Bee, you literally never have to ask if I want to sleep next to you, okay?” Yang said with a grin. “I meant what I said before, out on the balcony.”

Blake raised an eyebrow, they both said a lot of things out there.

“I love you,” Yang repeated, in a much stronger voice than before.

The words seemed to fill Blake’s chest with something lighter than air, and suddenly she just couldn’t stop smiling, no matter how tired she felt. Turning on her heel to face Yang, she leaned up and pressed her lips to Yang’s as she draped her arms around Yang’s firm, muscular shoulders. Yang, not to be caught off guard, looped her own arms around Blake’s waist and pulled her close, smiling into the kiss and returning with both interest… and tongue.

“For the love of _dust_ would you two get back to bed, _please_?”

“Aw, Wei~ss, they were being _cu~te_ …”

Yang and Blake broke apart and turned to look at the door to their room where a grumpy-looking Weiss was glaring at them from the threshold. An exceptionally sleepy Ruby had her head perched on Weiss’ shoulder and her arms wrapped around Weiss’ waist as she looked fit to go to sleep right where she was standing.

“And could you please remove the limpet that’s attached to me before you do?” Weiss grumbled as she turned around and moved back towards her bed, Ruby still joined to her.

Blake let out a poorly restrained snort of laughter as Weiss attempted, unsuccessfully to pry Ruby off of her before getting back into bed which only resulted in Weiss overbalancing and toppling over onto the blankets with a squawk of irritation, carrying Ruby along with her. Yang chuckled as she stepped into the room, Blake in tow, and made her way to her own bed.

“Sorry, ice queen,” Yang said with a laugh, ‘but Ruby is a serial cuddler when she’s tired and, as her big sister, I know better than to try and detach her. She’d just end up on me and this bed is gonna be crowded enough as it is.”

“What?” Weiss popped her head up out of the mess of blankets and realised she couldn’t spot Blake anywhere.

No… that wasn’t quite right.

There was a very suspicious pair of cat ears poking over the railing of Yang’s bed, and even Yang looked surprised to realise her partner had somehow managed to beat her to the mattress.

“Yang Xiao Long get your sister off of me or so help me…” Weiss growled as she tried once more to pull her arm free.

Ruby was well and truly asleep by this point, however, and Weiss slumped back against her pillows as she realised that, while Ruby might _look_ soft and waifish, she spent all day swinging around a scythe made of forged steel, and her grip was utterly implacable.

“Sleep tight!” Yang cheered cheekily as she clambered up into bed, burrowed under the blankets, and wrapped herself cozily around Blake as the big spoon. “G’night!”

“I hate all of you.”

“Love you too, Weiss,” Yang replied with a mighty yawn before snuggling against Blake and relaxing.

Just as she was drifting off to sleep, Yang felt something odd: a vibration against her chest and arms. For a moment, her sleep-addled brain couldn’t figure out what the sensation could possibly be until Blake’s happily twitching ears tickled her nose and she realised it.

“Blake… are you _purring_?”


End file.
